Theosophy and Hinduism are two very complex religions that have many similarities and differences that aid to the comparison of them. Some of their most central elements are similar such as, the practice of meditation and yoga and the belief in reincarnation and karma, yet they use different functions of each. Theosophy uses some of the same ideas as Hinduism and can go hand and hand, but Hinduism does not go with Theosophy. In Theosophy, you can use any greater divine, but Hinduism uses the divine. These comparisons help to understand the central elements that are in a religion and help in knowledge of how religion works in general.

Theosophy is similar to Hinduism in that it dates back to ancient times before the Christian era, but different in that the Theosophical Society was founded in New York City in 1875. The Society itself is a relatively recent establishment. Helena P. Blavatsky was the main founder who once said, "Theosophy is an expression of a spiritual and educational movement that has been active in all ages."

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (stehend mitte), Henry S...

English: Founder of the Theosophical Society Elena...

English: Mystic Helena Blavatsky in her earlier ca...

(Ferm, 783)

In 1878, Blavatsky along with Henry S. Olcott, a co-founder, left America for India. There, they worked diligently to establish their value for Oriental religions and philosophies. While she was struggling for accreditation in the East, Blavatsky's fame in the West was struggling after the Society for Psychical Research issued a report in 1884 reporting on her fraudulent paranormal phenomena. With these reports fueling her drive to strengthen her society, she moved to London and published her most famous piece of work, The Secret Doctine.

Over the next hundred years, Blavatsky's original movement has split into several separate organizations. A few years after Blavatsky's death, the society split into two parts, those following H.S. Olcott and Annie Besant, which kept its headquarters...

More Hinduism essays:

There are many religions through out the world, and time. Two of these religions are Hinduism, and Buddhism. Both religions originated from India and are both still practiced to this day. Hinduism started in about 3,000 B.C. and is a polytheistic religion, which about 80% of the Indian population ...

... and laborers. A fifth class, Panchamas, or untouchables, are people whose jobs make them touch unclean or unholy objects. In the new society the system is harder to work with but in the past the caste was very strict and kept different people in different ...

... and rebirth. As transcendent as the concept of reincarnation was, it did not provide Hindus with an ultimate salvation from suffering. Thus every living thing must eventually suffer and die. Such views resulted in further development of Hindu religion ...

... and Buddhism are two of the five major religions in our world today. They are widely practiced, and have survived for centuries. Both have similarities and differences, as do all forms of religion. Hopefully, in this paper I will show you the basic structure of each religion ...

... different gods which individually represent one particular aspect of Brahman. The most popular one of the lesser gods are Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer) Hinduism has no founder. It is a religion ...

... reincarnation. Communication between Gods and their devoted are done in temples. Within the walls of theses temples the three worlds (talked about in the first paragraph) come together. Temples are built in places in which the Mahadeva resides. Followers of the Hindu religion ...

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